Three X Trouble
by Queechi
Summary: What happens if the craziest characters from Hunter X Hime and Hunter X Kune actually met up? You'd end up with Three Times the Trouble! Collab crack fic between Justanimefanfics and Queechi.
1. Chapter 1

[Neither of us own HxH. If we did, there'd most likely be a lot more female protagonist and we'd be rich, not writing fanfiction. We'd also probably be rich Asians, but we're not.]

This is supposed to be a collaboration between Queechi and Justanimefanfics, including characters from the fanfics Hunter x Kune and Hunter x Hime. Just consider it a little side story with our crazy OCs.

Cast

 **Hunter x Kune's** **Kune Kagashi** \- A raven haired teenage boy who is one of three known survivors of the very cliche Dorobō Guild massacre. His prefered fighting style revolves around feints. He also enjoys long romantic walks on the beach, and is a self proclaimed "Ladies Man." (Disclaimer: Woman Beware!)

 **Hunter x Kune's** **Takumi Takai** \- A blonde teenage boy who is one of three known survivors of the very cliche Dorobō Guild massacre. He rocks double katanas and emits concussion blasts using his Nen. Other than bothering Kune, he enjoys cooking. That unfortunately doesn't mean he is a good chef.

 ** _Hunter x Hime's_** **Himeko Inoue** \- A crazy teen who is full of herself and likes to insult people inside her head in order to make herself feel better when she is in fact no better. Is in a one sided relationship with Kurapika, where she of course is the one and only side. Is also chasing after her older brother, who in turn is trying to get the fuck away from her.

 **Summary - What if Himeko Inoue, Kune Kagashi and Takumi Takai all ended up getting lost in the same place? You'll end up with three times the trouble! Collab crack fic between Queechi and Justanimefanfics.**

Chapter 1

"Hey Taku, do you even know where we're going?" The eighteen year old huffed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He looked up at his blonde companion who seemed to be confidently leading the way up the long set of stairs.

"Kune, relax," he replied in a much calmer and composed tone, "we're going to retrieve our client's package, remember? You were the one to accept the contract, remember?"

"Right…" Kune started off, "but do you know where we're picking the package up?"

"I thought you knew!" Takumi exclaimed, now that he realized that both of them had just been aimlessly wandering around the area.

Kune could only facepalm at his response. "I was following you the whole time…"

The two teens suddenly stopped where they were and started looking around the area. They had been walking up a set of stone stairs leading up a mountain to the town that Takumi had thought they were supposed to go for the package.

Looking up at the sky, Kune estimated that they had about seven hours of light based off of the position of the sun. After a back and forth debate, the duo had decided that the best course of action was to continue their trek to the village in hopes of getting directions. _That_ , and Takumi needed new pants, apparently the berries that he had been eating stained easily. White pants and red berry stains just don't go together. Kune even pointed out that it looked like a girl on her time of the month, but then again a girl wouldn't be stupid enough to wear anything white when they were on it, which in turn only made the situation a whole lot funnier.

As they continued walking, they noticed that the number of trees on the mountain side were decreasing, and in their place rocks and large boulders started littering the ground. In other words, they found themselves in the middle of no where. Before long, the duo made it to the small town, completely obscured by the mountains. The town looked suspicious to say least, exactly the type of place where there client would carry out their so called 'business.' But in Kune's line of work, the shadier characters always payed more, so hiking up to a town like this wasn't out of the ordinary.

"Taku you might have actually brought us to the right place," Kune praised Takumi.

"Have you ever doubted me?" Takumi asked, grinning proudly before thinking about it further. "Actually don't answer that on second thought!"

"Alright so we gotta get directions, go ask that old dude smoking weed over by the alley," Kune suggested, nudging his beloved blonde forward.

"No way am I risking getting kidnapped," Takumi started to complain, "if either of us is getting hauled away in a pedovan, it's definitely you!"

"Fine be like that!" Kune groaned in annoyance, now that he had to do everything by himself. ' _Since Taku is gonna be a pussy, I gotta find someone who seems a bit safer…_ ' he thought to himself looking around the area, only to spot another person to ask for directions. "Hey Taku, why not ask that chick over there? Who knows, play your cards right and get her number while you are at it!" By now Kune was grinning cheekily, watching his friend go red in embarrassment.

"Hey Mr. Slick, why don't you ask her," Takumi retorted trying his best to cover his red ears, "we all know how much of a ladies man you are."

"Fine, one more girl for me!" With that, Kune shrugged and walked up to the petite girl with shoulder length, black hair whose deep blue eyes were too busy scanning through her strange, beetle shaped phone. "Excuse me miss, um, do you know where 8 Ayashiihito is?"

' _That son of a bitch still hasn't paid me yet!_ ' She cursed, checking through her online banking app. She was on the way back home after completing a mission and was promised to be paid after she left. ' _So I basically spent a whole day counting a bunch of fucking flowers on a fucking field and didn't even get paid in the end? Fuck Haru for even sending me on this stupid mission! 'Consider it a bio field trip' he says, as if I'll learn anything by doing some shitty plant sampling!_ '

Being stuck deep in her thoughts and cursing at a handful of people in the meantime, she didn't even pay attention to the poor lad that went up to her to ask for directions. But he didn't give up and tried again, not wanting to be the one being ignored. "Um, excuse me?"

The girl stopped walking all of the sudden, "That's it!" She exclaimed all of the sudden, startling Kune in the process. "I can just go back and demand the money."

"Um, hello?"

"No, that's just a waste of my time and money. Who does he even think he is making me travel back and forth?" She asked herself out loud. "I'll just wait and call him. If he still doesn't pay me then I'll just sue the bastard. That'll teach him not to mess with me!"

After determinedly nodding to herself, she started walking off again completely ignoring the presence of the raven haired boy who was just trying to get directions from her. Standing there looking defeated, his companion lightly patted his shoulder to snap him out of it, "Way to go casanova, that chick didn't even acknowledge your presence!"

"Taku, is there something wrong with my hair today?" He asked, wondering what could be wrong with him to be completely ignored like that. "Or is it my breath? I'm not even sweating that much so I'm sure that I don't stink."

Takumi shook his head in response, "Nope, you look just as miserable as you look any other day."

"Then how could she just walk past me like that? I mean, look at me!"

"I am, and I think I can tell why she walked away from you…" Takumi commented. "Maybe you just weren't her type you know."

"Everyone loves me, why not her?" Kune questioned out of frustration.

"Maybe you should try and approach her differently, she's not that far from here."

The pair looked ahead at the girl walking away, minding her own business and still not noticing that there were two lost souls trying to ask her for directions. But when they looked at her closer, she didn't really seem like she knew where she was going either. She was looking around the area, trying to figure out the way back too.

"Or maybe we should just ask someone else…" Takumi pointed out, noticing how she looked just as lost as them.

"In that case, go and ask that geezer from earlier!" Kune scornfully suggested.

"Hell no!"

"I asked the chick, so you ask the geezer!"

"Let me correct you. You failed to ask the chick, so technically you haven't really done shit either."

Meanwhile, the girl who was quite a decent distance away from the pair thought of a good way to get her hard earned money and was trying to find a way to the nearest train station. But then, her sharp ears were able to hear bickering in the background. She turned around, and saw what looked like two little boys, one with messy black hair and the other with blonde hair arguing in the middle of no where.

' _Seriously, talk about bad parenting. Are those kids lost?_ ' She wondered. ' _It's usually not my business, but they are still kids so maybe I should warn them to stay away from this area_.' She cleared her throat before shouting, "Hey, you two little boys!"

Hearing the voice of a girl, the two stopped arguing for the moment and turned their attention to where it came from. They saw the young girl standing in the distance, waving at them.

"This area isn't safe for little kids!" She yelled at the top of her voice. "Go back home where it's safe and make sure to stay out of trouble!"

Hearing this, the pair looked at each other in confusion. From where she was standing, they actually did look a lot smaller but in reality they were a lot taller than her. Most probably older than her by two years too, so they didn't really get what the hell she was on about.

"Did she just call us little boys?" Takumi asked, raising his brow in slight annoyance.

Kune nodded in surprise, "Yeah…"

"Don't just stand there!" She continued to lecture them. "Be good boys and help your moms with chores and make sure not to accept any candies from strangers!"

"This chick needs a reality check…" Takumi said, making Kune nod in agreement. They continued to watch her proudly nod to herself before turning around and continuing to walk off.

' _I did a great job!_ ' She praised herself, while mentally giving herself a pat on the back. ' _And here I thought I was bad with kids, I'm great with them. A good role model too. Not to mention a really pretty one. Right, now I just have to find the train station and take the train to the airport. I better let the boys at the dojo know!_ '

Takumi started ruffling the other teen's hair after letting out a small chuckle, "So close Kune, that chick's into you," he continued teasing "as a babysitter maybe."

An exasperated sigh left Kune's lips, "Grow up. She thought you were a kid too. You're just pissed because you're on your man period!"

Takumi responded by giving his comrade the finger. ' _This is gonna make him so mad...'_ Takumi thought as his lips curved upwards into a mischievous smile. "Are you going there? Do you remember what happened on that night with the chocolate pudding and the wall?"

"What?! I thought that was history, that happened like a year ago! Don't you dare bring that up, that is uncalled for," Kune nagged.

"Well then if you don't want everyone to know, I suggest you shut up and ask that nice pot head over there for some directions," Takumi blackmailed, holding Kune's phone up in front of him.

"You blondes can be so mean at times…" Kune muttered under his breath heading towards the man in the alley, reconsidering his choice of friends.

After a good five minutes, Kune was finally able to get directions, which unsurprisingly is the same place the man had gone to get his drugs. And not the scanty over the counter meds, "the real stuff" as the man put it. After almost being pressured into buying a pound of meth, Kune was able to escape the grasp of the overweight stoner and return to his ' _trusty pal_.'

Takumi sat there on a nearby wooden bench, laughing his ass off as Kune uncomfortably waddled back to his friend. "I feel like I was mentally raped," Kune whispered.

"Cool, did you get the location?"

"Let's just get out of here, it's getting late and I don't want to be near that guy anymore. Let's just go to a Motel or an Inn or something, I'll tell you there." Kune suggested.

Takumi let out a sigh of annoyance, "Fine, but you're paying!"

The pair of boys moved through the village, trying to find someone less suspicious looking so they could ask where they can find a decent place to stay in overnight. After Takumi continued to blackmail Kune into asking for directions, they came across a couple of very dodgy looking inns until they finally found one that looked half as bad as all the others. The two looked up at the large wooden board, with the name of the inn.

' _The Inn_ ' it said. Certainly the most unoriginal name for an inn they've ever come across. Not just that, there were a couple of letters on the board about to fall off, swaying side to side whenever the wind blew.

While Kune was ready to enter the and get the two of them a room, Takumi just wanted to get as far away as possible. Ever seen those horror movies with those old, vintage looking buildings hiding some sort of dark secret? Well Takumi just had a gut feeling that this inn was one of those. The old name board, half broken stairs, smashed windows and uninhabited area they were in just proved his theory right. The sudden downpour of rain and crashing lightning just had to be the cherry on top.

"You know, spending the night at that place with the mad scientist looking guy carrying around a butter knife doesn't sound that bad anymore…"

Looking at the current state of his partner, Kune couldn't help but let out a loud sigh. It made him question why he hung out with this good for nothing fellow in the first place. "Stop being such a wuss and come. Or you can gladly stay out here in the rain and either get struck by lightning or get eaten by a pack of hungry wolves. Your choice!"

Takumi watched his companion mercilessly walk up the set of creaking, wooden stairs without looking back at him. Once Kune entered the inn, he was left all alone getting wet in the rain and took a moment to stare at the building in front of him until he ran inside startled by the striking lightning.

Once inside, his eyes wandered around the abandoned lounge area, with an old, grandfather clock in one corner of the room, oil paintings of famous historical people whose eyes watched his every move, a set of dusty sofas along with a half broken coffee table with dead flowers in a vase in the centre of the room and Kune impatiently waiting for him at the front desk. He decided to walk over to him.

The inn owner was a tall, skinny old man with hardly any hair on his head. He was dressed in all black. His soulless black eyes were on the boys, waiting for them to request a room. They noticed his sickly pale face, with hollow cheeks and came to a conclusion. He was either half dead or has been on a strict one meal a month diet.

"A room for two," Kune requested. The man nodded silently and turned to the wall to pick up one of the very few remaining keys before passing it to him. He then opened the guest book and pointed at room number 666, wanting them to sign underneath. Kune took the initiative to sign first, while Takumi half heartedly signed next to Kune's name. Once they were done, the man closed the book and started staring off into space, at one of the paintings that was looking straight back at him. "Thanks man!"

Kune walked towards the stairs with their room key in his hand while Takumi followed trying to avoid looking at the paintings for too long. "Is it too late to go back to the mad scientist. I'm sure he was just after one of our kidneys, we'll come out alive in that case. This guy is definitely after our soul!"

"Calm the fuck down, you call yourself a Hunter? What Hunter is afraid of the Boogie Man?" Kune questioned.

"I'm a Contract Hunter, not a fucking Ghost Hunter!" Takumi protested.

"How about we go take a bath first and explore the area afterwards? We can come back when it's time for bed."

"What an ingenious idea! Didn't think you could come up with such suggestions."

"The paintings will haunt you tonight if you don't stop being so cocky," Kune warned.

"Oh hell no!"

Reaching their room, they opened door number 666 to find a decently sized room with two single beds and an old dresser. The boys entered before throwing all their belongings into one corner and proceeded to make themselves comfortable. Takumi was the first to take a shower, making sure to check whether Kune was still outside the door guarding him now and then. Kune however could only get five minutes in the shower due to Takumi's constant whining and begging. When they were done and both dressed, they left their room with their essentials and locked the room before heading back downstairs to the front desk. But when they reached the lounging area, they saw a familiar face at the front desk doing a range of strange hand signs.

"Isn't that…" Kune started off.

"Yeah," Takumi nodded, "and look, she is playing charades with the half dead dude."

' _I doubt it…_ '

"So, let me start over. I need a place to stay overnight because I missed my train and it just started raining all of the sudden. It's just for tonight, so I don't mind how small the room is. I'll adjust!" They heard her say to the man. The man however just shook his head, pointing at the now empty key display.

"Come on, I'll offer you 500 jenny!" She tried to persuade him. "It's a pretty good deal if you ask me!"

"Hey, isn't 500 jenny a bit too cheap?" Takumi whispered over to Kune. (That's around 5 USD by the way)

The man however shook his head in response once again.

' _Damn it, I guess I have to resort to my old tricks!_ ' The girl thought, devising her next plan. "Oh come on, are you really going to let a beautiful girl such as myself stay out in the cold. What am I going to do if a big, bad man approaches me while I'm helplessly sitting in the middle of no where? I'm too precious to die so young!" She tried persuading him now using a slightly higher pitched, pouty voice.

A mischievous smile appeared on Kune's face watching the scene in front of him, "I've got an idea on how I can pay her back for earlier."

"Oh yeah?" Takumi asked curiously. "What is it?"

"You see, no woman resists my charms," he smirked confidently. "Girls totally dig the kind of guys that go on and sacrifice their well being for them. So if I walk up to her, offer her to stay in our room so she can stay out of the rain and offer her your bed while you sleep on the floor, she's totally going to be into me. I can imagine her saying something like ' _Ohh ma gawd, Kune you are so awesome, how could I have just ignored you like that!_ ' and baam, I'm back in business bitches!"

Takumi slowly backed away, noticing an evil aura surrounding his friend. "Dude, you are drooling…"

After completely ignoring Takumi's remark, Kune stepped forth wanting to carry out his mission and earning back his so called pride. However, he stopped once he saw a slightly obese, middle aged woman walk out of the room behind the desk, standing right next to the man.

"Oh, dear. Look at you poor thing," she awed at the sight of the little girl. The girl just returned her brightest and probably most fake smile. She decided to use this opportunity.

"I've missed my train and I can't get home until tomorrow. Can you please let me stay here for tonight?" She pleaded in a quiet and innocent tone.

"Of course, why wouldn't we?" She asked before looking at her half dead man standing beside her. "Right, dear?"

"Dear? They are married?" Takumi asked Kune.

"I think the wife just eats the husbands portions of food along with her own," Kune tried to come up with the sanest conclusion to why they looked so different in 'size'.

Hearing his wife's voice, the man frantically nodded his head before the woman reached for a drawer and took out a spare, rusty key. She passed the key over to the girl, "Here you go sweetie, we always have a spare room for sweet little girls like you. Since my husband caused such a ruckus, I'll let you stay for free!"

When the word 'free' reached the girls ears, her eyes instantly darted up and started to sparkle. ' _Ah, what a lovely word_!' She thought. "Thank you very much. I'll try not to cause too much trouble!"

"Of course you won't," the woman smiled back at her. "Have a nice stay then."

"Thank you once again." The girl said, looking at the key in her hand. The man opened up the book and flicked right to the back of the book and pointed at room number 616, wanting her to sign there. She did as she was told and walked confidently walked off with a smug grin plastered on her face. ' _Looks like Himeko Inoue still has it in her!_ '

' _No way...that old woman just killed my chance of sharing a room with that babe! Oh well, we are staying in the same inn...'_ Soon a sly smile grew on the teen's face, his mind riddled with wicked thoughts.

"Uhh, Kune? Kune? KUNE!" Takumi shouted, trying to snap his buddy out of his perverted thoughts.

"What? What is this important that you just have to interrupt my thoughts?" Kune asked, clearly annoyed at his friend's efforts.

"That girl that you were drooling over. You know, the one that completely ignored you earlier? Yeah, she is kinda walking away. Your nose is kind of bleeding too. And that's not all. The inn keeper over there? The one right behind you, isn't too happy about you making a mess all over the desk."

Hearing this, Kune turned around to face the creepy geezer. Wiping his chin of the excess saliva, Kune apologised to the man and started walking up the stairs, forcing Takumi along with him. As Takumi was half dragged up stairs, his eyes were once again blessed to be able to look into the eyes of a most likely dead farmer, holding up a pitchfork with an evil smile cast upon his face. The eyes of the man in the picture seemed to be glowing green for just that moment.

"Kune…"

"It's just a painting Taku," Kune tried calming his friend down.

"Yes, a painting that's out to kill me!"

Kune suddenly dropped Takumi after getting what seemed to him like a genius idea and ran up the stairs, unlocking their door, room 666, and slammed it shut, locking Takumi out. He then barricaded the door with Takumi's bed, Takumi's belongings, Takumi's dresser, and Takumi's lamp.

"I'm going to kick the door in!" Takumi screamed, banging on the thin piece of wood on hinges.

"You do that and you're paying the fee for getting it repaired!" Kune yelled back.

"I DON'T CARE, JUST OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR NOW!" Takumi shrieked.

"Dumbass!" Kune bellowed, "If you do that, then the skeletons will be able to get into our room and kill you easier!" After hearing this Takumi stopped his banging and girly screaming, only to slide down on the floor. "Good, I'll let you in only after you promise not to get scared of all this dumb shit. And if you do get scared, you gotta delete that photo of me and the chocolate pudding, okay?"

"Fine I promise," Taku said with a sigh. After Kune un-blocked the door, Takumi was let into the room.

"You know you had your own key, right?"

"MOTHER FUC-"

Meanwhile in room 616…

Himeko was laying down in her bed tossing and turning. Not being able to get a wink of sleep, she looked around the rundown room, with the cream coloured wallpapers with strange red dots peeling right off the walls and then at the unusable dresser with only one draw. Now she understood why the room was free. Not only did her room suck, but her neighbours staying a few rooms beside hers sucked just as bad. ' _I swear to God, if I hear those fuckers yell one more time I'm gonna shove this god damn pillow down both of their throats..._ '

"MOTHER FUCKER!"

' _Son of a bitch, you're really going to make me do this?_ ' Himeko thought, getting up from her bed, not caring that she was just wearing an oversized t-shirt and short pj shorts. Bringing both of her pillows with her, she swung her door open causing them to emit a high pitched shriek and charged straight for the source of the howling.

It didn't take Himeko very long to pinpoint the origin of the screaming. Between the marks on the door and the familiar voices behind the door itself, it wouldn't take a detective to solve this mystery. She proceeded by banging her fist against the door and screaming the most profound obscenities.

She heard whispering from behind the door. "Who is it?" asked a voice in a sing songy tone.

"Room service," she answered.

"We didn't order anything" replied the same voice. "Hey Kune look who it is? Right through the peep hole, it's that girl! You know the one you drooled over twice today."

"Really? Open the door!"

"Why, so you can get ignored again?"

"Takumi open the door up this instant!"

Himeko let out a sigh, ' _Fucking morons completely forgot that I'm still standing right here. I kinda feel sorry for them after seeing how stupid they are..._ '

"Taku she's still there, open the door, she wants to see me!" Kune wailed. Soon after, crashing sounds could be heard from inside their room and in a matter of seconds the door was opened, revealing Kune who was leaning against a wall, trying to look cool. Kune opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the flickering of lights, followed by total darkness.

"Uhhh, Kune? Did your awkwardness just cause a power outage?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Kune replied. "Besides, is that girl still here?"

"I'm still here…" Himeko answered, hoping they'd realise that she could hear every single word of their conversation.

"Great!" Kune beamed. "Okay Taku, I'm going to count until three and once I'm done, use the flashlight app on your phone to shine some light on me."

While he was counting, Takumi and Himeko could hear occasional tripping noises telling them that Kune was moving around the room and getting into his previous pose, believing that the spotlight on him would make him look even cooler. "Three!"

But the instant he shone the light on him, Himeko dropped the pillows in her hands and ran straight out of the room with a loud scream. Takumi soon followed her, dropping his phone on the floor, screaming at the same pitch as her. Kune tilted his head in confusion, wondering why they would run out at the sight of his beautiful face before picking up Takumi's phone and checking the room, only to find an unexpected visitor standing right behind him.

Kune just flashed a nervous grin, "... hey, how you doing?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Himeko and Takumi's eyes widened as they looked at Kune; or whatever was right behind Kune. Himeko dropped the pillows in her hands and ran out screaming, while Takumi soon followed screaming in the same pitch as her, after dropping his phone on the floor. Kune stared at the door in confusion, wondering what could have possibly made those two drop their belongings and run away screaming. He picked up Takumi's phone and turned around, using the light of the phone to illuminate the pitch black room.

Once he spotted the unexpected visitor standing right behind him, he flashed a nervous grin, "... Hey, how you doing?"

The being behind him just stared at Kune who was slowly trying to make his way out of the room, closing the door behind him. Not too soon after closing his room door, he followed Himeko's and Takumi's example by running down the hallway, down the flight of stairs and into the front lounging area. He took a moment to regain his breath before looking around for his friend, and the girl that ran down screaming her head off with his friend. Himeko was passed out on one of the nearby sofas while Takumi looking out of the window, sighing.

Out of all the possible days to pour down, it was pouring down on the day when Takumi wanted to get as far away as possible from where he was. Along with the crashing lightning, the wind was really strong. These were weather conditions you should avoid when going through a dense forest. The fact that it was already dark outside made it a lot more dangerous. Of course, Hunters should be fit enough to handle just about anything, but considering the fact that Kune and Takumi only ended up finding this inn after a whole day of walking around could change their survival chances. Especially since the village they were in wasn't even that big to begin with.

Noticing his depressed friend, Kune approached Takumi and lightly patted his back, "you okay, man?"

"Do you think a bear would let us stay in it's cave for tonight?"

"I'm not spending the night with any bears," Kune stated firmly, "if we aren't going to stay here, we are going back to the village."

"I don't trust you to lead us back to the village in this weather."

According to Takumi, it was safer staying with a bunch of bears than let Kune lead them back to the nearby village. Kune however didn't want to leave the place without getting his money back. They booked the place for the night, but only stayed for an hour or two. He marched up to the counter and spotted a small, silver bell. As the half dead owner and his wife were no where to be found, he started to ring the bell over and over again, trying to get the attention of the inn's owners.

Instead of gaining the attention of the owners, he attracted the attention of fellow guests at the inn, who were irritated by the loud ringing of the bell. Loud steps could be heard marching down the old, wooden, stairs.

"Oi! Who is making all this noise?" A deep, masculine voice echoed through the lounging area, making Kune stop ringing the bell momentarily. He looked up to see a very tall, muscular, man, who could easily be double his height. Seeing the facial hair on the man's face and a couple of tattoos on his biceps made Kune retract his hand from the bell. "What's with the noise, kid?"

"I want my money back," Kune answered, "there was some messed up creature in my room, I ain't staying here any longer."

The man looked at Takumi standing by the window, who was also listening to their conversation. Compared to the slightly calmer Kune, Takumi looked like he's seen a ghost; literally. "You two fuckers probably pissed your pants while telling each other ghost stories. Just man up and go back to bed."

"It wasn't just us two," Takumi interrupted him, before he pointed at Himeko lying on one of the nearby sofas, "she saw it too!"

With all the arguing going on downstairs, two other pairs of footsteps could be heard making their way down the stairs. The first one to come in sight was a tall woman who looked like she was in her mid twenties. The black dress she wore hugged her slim body and reached until her mid thighs. Her blonde hair was curled into bouncy curls and she had attractive facial features that were enhanced with some eyeliner and some red lipstick. "Oh my god, why is it so noisy here?"

Behind her was a boy who was most likely in his late teens, nearing his twenties. His medium brown hair had a few strands sticking up, and you could see some eye bags underneath his eyes, hidden by his thick framed glasses. In contrast to the woman, his clothes were a lot more casual with a loose, grey, sweater and fitting, black, jeans. "I'd appreciate it if you'd all argue a little quieter, I'm trying to do some work upstairs."

"Don't blame me!" The muscular man yelled at them. "It's these two runts and the one lying on the couch over there that are causing the ruckus."

The boy wearing the glasses rubbed his temples in frustrations, "first of all, how could that girl cause any ruckus if she's unconscious? And I doubt that loud, angry voice I heard a few minutes ago could belong to any of those two boys. Please think before you let words come out of your mouth."

"What?" The man's face started to get red at the boy's disrespect. "Watch your words, you are talking to a Hunter."

"Then I should suggest that you should watch your words too, you are not the only Hunter here."

"Typical men, trying to boost their ego whenever they get an opportunity to do so," the blonde commented bluntly, clearly annoyed at all the bragging going on.

Before an argument could start between the three, the door behind the front counter opened, and the inn owner's wife stepped out to see what the ruckus was all about. Kune wasted no time to complain, "I demand my money back, there was some strange thing in our room. We are leaving this place!"

"Sorry, but if you've read our policies up on the wall behind us, you'd understand that we don't have any money back guarantee."

"Woman, there is some weird creature in your inn room! Don't you care about that?!"

"Listen boy, we do our best to clean the rooms up as much as we can, but there are some things we can't get rid off."

Takumi left the window and walked towards the counter to find out more about the things she 'couldn't get rid off'. "What do you mean by that?"

"This inn is quite old, so it wouldn't be surprising to have a couple of apparitions wandering around the place once in a while. We tried calling in exorcists, but it didn't work. According to them, they all died in regret and are willing to stay in the world of the living. It's going to be really hard to get rid of them."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Takumi interrupted her, "you gave us a room knowing there was some kind of messed up monster inside?! Are you crazy, woman?!"

"It's an apparition Takumi, not a monster," Kune corrected him.

"Does that really matter now?"

"A ghost?" The man questioned mockingly. "Don't make me laugh! You probably just saw the curtains swaying in the wind."

"I agree, there is no such thing as supernatural beings," the boy added, agreeing with the older man, "it's just your brain playing tricks on you."

"It was really there though," Takumi argued back, once again getting confirmation from Kune.

Kune nodded his head, "do you think we are mad enough to go out in this weather at this hour?"

"He does have a point," the woman pointed out. They all spent a brief moment looking around the room, questioning themselves whether they should actually believe such a crazy story.

"I would like to get rid of these apparitions, but everyone who's tried to get rid of them has failed," the inn keeper's wife continued to explain, "I've even hired Hunters for the job offering them a reward, but none of them could do it." The mention of a reward turned heads.

"Out of curiosity, is the reward still up?" The muscular man asked. "I'm a Blacklist Hunter so I've only had experience catching criminals, but this shouldn't be much different."

"If you are able to complete the job, I'd be more than happy to offer you the reward." The old woman continued to look around the room. "But you might have competition, everyone here is a Hunter. Everyone showed me their Hunter licenses as ID before getting a room."

Thus far, only the Blacklist Hunter had accepted the job so he was looking around for any other Hunter that was willing to accept the job. To Kune, this was more of a challenge he had to accept in order to keep his pride and honor, "Kune Kagashi, Contract Hunter. I guess I can't turn down a challenge."

"You have guts to take the job although I already accepted," the Blacklist Hunter remarked, "you want to get crushed, don't you?"

"What the fuck, Kune?!" Takumi yelled. "I thought we were going to get the fuck out of here, not go ghost hunting."

"Chill, Taku. We are catching some ghosts, getting the reward and going back. How bad is it going to be?"

"Very bad!"

"Look, think of it this way; that reward will count as a refund _and_ lunch tomorrow. How about some sukiyaki?"

"I could always make sukiyaki!"

Kune turned to the much larger Hunter. "I'll make you eat those words while I eat my sukiyaki tomorrow!"

"I could always make sukiyaki!" whined the blonde teen.

"You're on pipsqueak, don't forget who the alpha is," the muscly Blacklist Hunter said, clearly trying to intimidate everyone around him.

Kune and the man stared at each other for a long while, neither took their eyes off of the other, and neither dared to blink. The staring went on for about a minute, and all the while it was completely silent, except for Himeko's snoring.

"Hey Kune, you realize that the longer you stare at him the less time you have to look for ghost, right?" asked Takumi.

Kune whipped around to face Taku, and then seemingly out of nowhere, Kune started to chuckle. "You realize now we're going to go look for the apparitions now, right?" he stated, "which means we're going to fight them now, right? Which means you just forced yourself to help me look too."

Takumi started blushing, the blonde was clearly embarrassed by his mistake. He started to scratch the back of his head, and then let out a sigh. "You know what, fine. You got me, let's just go," Takumi surrendered.

"Great!" Kune shouted, "now carry the girl with us!"

Takumi sighed and obeyed, clearly defeated. He walked over to the sleeping girl and looked at her for a second.

"Just pick her up!" Kune shouted at the blonde.

Takumi looked back down, thinking ' _How are you supposed to pick up a girl? I don't want to hurt her or anything…_ '

"Oh my god, you like her don't you!" Kune teased.

"N-no! I j-just don't want to hurt her!" Takumi defended. His cheeks got warm, which indicated that he was blushing.

"Just pick her up like you'd pick up anyone else, idiot," Kune instructed.

Takumi went to go grab the girl's arm, but as soon as his hand touched her body he noticed that she was really warm.

"Hey Kune, she's warm!" Takumi yelled to the raven haired teen who was now on Takumi's phone.

"No fucking duh! The human body is 37° Celsius, now stop stalling!"

Takumi crouched down beside her and wrapped his hands around her waist, trying to hoist her over his shoulders. But as he started to lift her, she woke up without him noticing. And Himeko waking up to a guy around her waist was not something that happened often, and when it did, you're in for it.

"I'll give you three seconds to get your hands off me," Himeko warned, before she started counting down slowly, "three, two-" But before she could finish counting, Takumi let out a quiet shriek in surprise at her voice and wasted no time to drop her on the floor. Himeko groaned as she got back on her feet, "for fucks sake, you can't do anything properly can you? You can't pick up a woman properly, neither can you set a woman down properly."

"Ah, I'm sorry. You just surprised me."

"Well now that I'm awake, I can finally leave this god forsaken place." She walked up to the counter with the inn keeper's wife talking to the Blacklist Hunter and interrupted their conversation. "Excuse me, I'd like to vacate my room." For Himeko it was no big deal. After all, she got her room for free, so she didn't have to demand any money back.

But the man standing right beside her didn't seem so pleased by her rude interruption, "can't you see that we are in the middle of a conversation here, runt?"

' _Ignore the stupid, and the stupid will go away.'_

Himeko waited patiently for the woman's answer while the man was starting to get furious. However, before their conversation could progress any further the blonde woman joined them at the counter.

"I thought about it, and since there is a reward involved, I'm in!" She seemed to be overflowing with confidence. "I'm a Beauty Hunter, my name is Jessica."

"A Beauty Hunter?" The Blacklist Hunter questioned in a mocking tone. "Aren't you just a group of vain women trying to look pretty all the time."

"Whatever Hunter I am, I still have more brains than you, so it's fine."

Himeko seemed slightly confused at this reward they were talking about. She knew something must have happened while she was asleep, but the fact that a reward was now involved caught her attention. After all, for a rookie Contract Hunter jobs were really hard to find; especially the more well-paid jobs.

After nearly everyone had accepted the job, expect Himeko of course who had no idea on what was going on, the boy with the glasses also seemed a little interested. Unlike the others he spent some time calculating the odds of him actually catching these ghosts, and ways in which he could do it. Once he came up with a good enough plan, he also decided to accept the job. It wasn't exactly the field of work he would do. Jobs like this would rather suit Contract Hunters, who would usually do these kinds of odd jobs. But there was one Blacklist Hunter and even a Beauty Hunter involved, so why not? He could always use the money to buy himself some new tech gear.

"I'd like to try the job too," he said to the elder woman, "I'm a Hacker Hunter, and I believe that I could be of some assistance to you. The name is Ai Zweistein."

All this reward talk got Himeko curious, "if you don't mind, could you please tell me what this reward is all about?" Her interest grew as she heard the woman talk about a job and how there was a reward for anyone that completes it. Naturally, Himeko was very much into the idea of getting some extra cash before going back home. She didn't have to hear much about the job description to actually accept it just like everyone else. She confidently accepted the job before someone pointed out that she hadn't even heard the full job description yet. However, at that point it was already too late. Before she knew that the mission was to get rid of the ghosts haunting the inn, she had already agreed to do it, and as an Inoue it was against her morals to go back on her word. It would bring shame to her family name.

" _Now what, it would be embarrassing to back out now that I agreed to do it. I seriously can't stand anything that's not alive though, but I really want that reward!"_ Himeko started to scan the room trying to find a potential 'partner in crime' to help her complete the mission; or more like someone she could trick into doing all the dirty work for her. _"The muscle head is too stupid, so he is off the list. The woman looks kinda smart, but my girl instincts tell me that she's a bitch, so not her either. Glasses boy over there is probably the sanest person to team up with, but I doubt he'd get tricked by me. He looks too smart."_ Finally, her eyes landed on the pair that were the most familiar to her. She sighed loudly, _"I guess those two will have to do for now. They don't look too stupid, but they don't look that smart either."_

Himeko fixed the expression slightly annoyed on her face, turning it into a bright smile, before she looked up at the pair and waved at them. Kune was the first to spot her cheerfully waving at them.

"Look Taku, that chick's waving at me now."

Takumi looked in Himeko's direction, and seeing that she now had their attention, she smiled even brighter, jumping up and down a couple of times while waving at them with both arms. In contrast to Kune, Takumi was slightly confused. She clearly seemed pissed off at him a good five minutes ago, she couldn't possibly be waving at them so happily now. He took a good look around to check whether there was anyone around them. But, there was no one.

"You do remember her telling me to get my hands off her, don't you?" Takumi asked, wondering whether his friend had actually forgotten that incident. "She can't possibly be waving at us, I think she hates us."

"She probably just hates you. She is just too shy to talk to me, so she puts on a facade. She might be one of those tsundere types."

"I doubt there is any -dere in her. She is just the tsun of the tsundere" (As in she is just plain rude and stuck-up, she doesn't have the sweet/caring side a tsundere would show)

Kune just sighed at his friend's statement, "Taku, women are all different. You got to learn how to deal with them all."

While Kune and Takumi continued their talk about women, Himeko kept trying to get their attention by waving, but she was getting ignored. _"I'm waving at you retards, look at me!"_ However, it didn't seem like it was working at all. Himeko decided to take a different approach; something Natsume from the dojo had taught her. She took a brief moment to fix her hair and clear her throat, before she walked up to the boys with the same smile. She held out her hand. "Hey, I'm Himeko Inoue. I was wondering whether you two would like to work with me."

"Aha! I told you! She was waving at us!" Kune announced.

' _Clearly I was waving at you, there's no one else here, idiots_ ,' Himeko thought to herself, still smiling brightly.

"Now look, Takumi. You need to make her your friend as soon as possible, make sure you show no interest in liking her more than a friend, clearly you want to wait a few years before announcing your undying love!" Kune instructed, "watch as I shake her hand."

"Hey, I don't like her!" Takumi protested.

Kune turned to the pale girl and slapped her hand, before grabbing it and twisting it around, fiddling with her fingers.

"Did you see that sick handsha-" Kune was cut off by the very irritated Himeko clearing her throat.

Kune turned to look at the girl, and not soon after Takumi turned to look as well. They both have her a puzzled look before Takumi tilted his head and gave the "Oh, I remember" look.

"Oh, I remember!" Takumi exclaimed. "Kune, she finally remembered how pathetic you looked when you tried hitting on her!"

Himeko gave a puzzled look before thinking ' _Lol, he actually tried hitting on me. He's not even in my league!_ ' "Well…" Himeko started, "no, I asked you if you wanted to work with me on this mission. After all, three brains work much better than one." _'Well, more like one brain and two puppets work better than just one brain, but I can't tell them that.'_ "Oh, but I do have one condition- you two need to give me half of your profits!"

"Uh, actually we're fine," Takumi said in a monotone voice, after he started to slowly understand Himeko's ulterior motive. Well, at least the most obvious one of her motives.

"Yeah, Taku here's right," Kune responded in a serious tone, "we're fine with working with you!" Before Himeko could respond, Kune walked up to her and whispered something in her ear so that Takumi couldn't hear. He said, "I'm actually fine with it, I was going to take half of his pay anyway, so we can split it."

"But Kun-" Takumi tried protesting to his companion before Kune cut him off.

"Think of it like this Taku, now we have two people who aren't afraid of ghost, so you're safer."

Takumi was going to open his mouth but he couldn't say anything. ' _Kune is right…_ ' Takumi thought, ' _now there are two people to protect me._ '

Himeko rubbed the back of her head, nervously chuckling while doing so. "I guess your friend is right, you are safer with me around!" Himeko thought, ' _I can't let them know that I'm afraid of ghosts too, I can't risk them breaking the deal with me._ _I need to change the topic!'_ She looked at the other Hunters, who were all headed up stairs. "That reminds me, your room. Did you close your room door?"

Kune thought back at the things he did on the way out of their hotel room, and he remembered that closing the door was one of them. "Yeah, I closed it."

' _At least the idiot closed the door on the way out. Since only these two have access to their room with the apparition in, we will have an advantage over everyone else. I doubt anyone would risk breaking the door down and then pay the repair fee out of the reward. That leaves me to think about these two. Unfortunately only one of them is somewhat useful, the other one is worse than me.'_ She then looked back up at both of them, "Listen up you two, right now we have more of an advantage than the others. We were the only ones to see the apparition and you two are the only ones with access to the room it was in. We just have to come up with a way to get rid of it, and I'm assuming that the other Hunters have no idea on how to do that. Except for that Hacker though, he might have some sort of gadget to detect the change in temperature of the rooms, and I'm almost certain that he has cameras and microphones with him too."

"You mean like those shows on TV?" Takumi asked.

Himeko nodded, "that's right! We have to somehow lure the ghosts out of the inn if we can't catch them, and we should do that without attracting any attention towards us."

"In that case we should start off looking in our room," Kune suggested, "there is a good chance the apparition is still there."


End file.
